Griselda Blanco is a name we'll all remember now. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at plot details from this Netflix miniseries that both accurately conveyed and embellished the life of Griselda Blanco.
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00:00 - Right now I know the exact amount.
00:02 - Vicenda, a la que tanto te quejas.
00:04 - They came to me.
00:05 - Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:07 And today we're looking at plot details from this Netflix miniseries
00:10 that both accurately conveyed and embellished the life of Griselda Blanco.
00:14 For those who haven't seen the series, there will be spoilers.
00:18 - You've thought about me a lot, haven't you?
00:20 Number 10.
00:23 "Custody Battle for Michael Corleone."
00:25 Right. Michael Corleone is the fourth and only surviving child of Griselda Blanco,
00:30 who named him after the Godfather character.
00:32 Blanco had Michael with Darío Sepúlveda, whom she married in 1978.
00:37 As the marriage fell apart, Sepúlveda felt that Michael would be better off with him.
00:41 Since the couple wasn't going to settle their differences in court,
00:52 Sepúlveda kidnapped his five-year-old son, taking him to Colombia.
00:56 Sepúlveda could only keep Michael from his mother for so long.
00:59 - Look straight ahead.
01:01 Close your eyes.
01:04 Cover your ears.
01:08 And don't look back.
01:12 In 1983, Sepúlveda was gunned down in front of Michael,
01:16 who returned to Blanco two years before her incarceration.
01:20 Michael also became involved in drug trafficking,
01:23 but has since left the business behind.
01:25 He's currently suing the creatives behind Griselda,
01:28 alleging they used "private artistic literary work without compensation."
01:33 - I can't focus on anything. I'm constantly aggressive. I'm sad.
01:38 Number 9.
01:39 "Blanco surrendered to the authorities."
01:41 Wrong.
01:49 In the final episode, Blanco turns herself in to the police,
01:52 believing that this will keep her family safe and she'll get a reduced sentence.
01:56 The real Blanco didn't go so willingly.
01:59 Where the show depicts her calling the cops and giving up her location,
02:03 it was DEA agent Bob Palumbo who tracked Blanco down in 1985.
02:07 After a decade-long search, Palumbo reportedly kissed Blanco.
02:11 Caught off guard, Blanco didn't put up much of a fight,
02:14 but she gave the arresting officers a false name.
02:17 - I said, "Hola, Griselda."
02:19 She looked at me with a very bewildered look.
02:22 "No, me llamo Betty."
02:25 I said, "Nah, I don't think so."
02:26 Griselda also implies that Blanco's lawyer negotiated her sentence down to seven years.
02:31 Blanco actually received 15 years for drug trafficking
02:34 and three 20-year sentences for second-degree murder,
02:37 although she was released early and deported due to her declining health.
02:42 - We all believed at the time that she had made so many enemies in her professional life
02:49 that as soon as she reached the tarmac on the airport in Colombia,
02:53 that her lifespan was almost nil.
02:56 It's been estimated that Blanco's body count ranged from as few as 40 to more than 200.
03:04 Episode 4 opens with one of the most publicized murders linked to Blanco.
03:08 - You're saying that one person is behind all of this?
03:11 - Yes.
03:13 I'm saying one woman is behind all this.
03:17 Around 2.30 p.m. on July 11, 1979,
03:21 drug trafficker Germán Jiménez Paneso and bodyguard Juan Carlos Hernández
03:25 were taken out in a blaze of gunfire at the Dade Land Mall's Crown Liquor Store.
03:30 Two shop employees were also wounded in the shootout.
03:33 - Witnesses were just beside themselves.
03:35 They couldn't believe the fact that they were in the mining drone business,
03:39 shopping at a suburban shopping mall, and ended up being shot at with machine guns.
03:44 While there were no other fatalities,
03:46 the assassins would shoot up several cars in the parking lot,
03:49 drawing comparisons to the Wild West.
03:51 The shooters subsequently fled in a van reading "Happy Time Complete Party Supply."
03:56 Blanco wasn't prosecuted for the Dade Land massacre,
03:59 although there's little doubt that she orchestrated the hit.
04:02 - She loved to make that statement,
04:04 and the bloody trail continued from that point on.
04:07 Number 7. Three of Blanco's sons died during her incarceration.
04:11 Wrong.
04:12 Just as Blanco is about to reclaim her freedom,
04:15 she's informed that her three eldest sons have all been killed.
04:18 - Who did this?
04:21 - We're not sure.
04:22 We imagine that they were waiting until your time here was almost done,
04:26 so that this could be as painful as possible.
04:30 While this twist gives the show a Shakespearean sentiment,
04:34 it's not entirely accurate.
04:36 Hubert and Osvaldo were both killed while Blanco was still in prison,
04:39 but it would be a few more years until she got out.
04:42 As such, their deaths were not planned to coincide with her release.
04:46 Dixon would join his brothers eventually,
04:49 although it's suspected that his death occurred
04:51 sometime between his mother's assassination on September 3, 2012 and 2020.
04:56 - Are you okay?
04:59 - I just asked you to teach her a lesson.
05:02 The show also gives detailed explanations about how each son died.
05:06 All we know for sure, though, is that Osvaldo met his end outside a nightclub.
05:11 Dixon and Hubert's deaths remain clouded in mystery.
05:14 - I'll let you lie because I think it helps you.
05:18 I'm not sure if it does.
05:20 Number 6. Pablo Escobar knew of Blanco.
05:23 Right.
05:24 The first episode hooks viewers in with a quote from Pablo Escobar.
05:28 Quote, "The only man I was ever afraid of was a woman named Griselda Blanco."
05:33 Whether or not Escobar said these precise words,
05:36 he was very much aware of Blanco's operation.
05:38 - Already by about 1975, she and Pablo were fighting,
05:41 literally trying to kill one another.
05:45 Each had his or her team of assassins after the other.
05:48 Some might debate exactly how much Escobar feared Blanco,
05:52 as he didn't resist clashing with her over territory.
05:55 Blanco wasn't one to back away from competition.
05:58 - What the hell do you want?
05:59 - Get me a meeting with our guy.
06:01 Escobar himself doesn't pop up in the series,
06:03 much to the disappointment of those hoping for a Narcos crossover.
06:07 As the opening text indicates, though,
06:09 Escobar recognized the power that Blanco commanded,
06:12 making her a potential threat.
06:14 - Escobar kills police and bribes officials to secure Medellin Airport as his own.
06:21 It strangles her main distribution route to the United States.
06:26 Medellin ultimately wasn't big enough for the two of them,
06:29 although Blanco and Escobar would both meet their end there.
06:32 The series makes multiple changes regarding Marta Ochoa.
06:40 She's depicted as the cousin of Juan David, Jorge Luis, and Fabio Ochoa Vazquez,
06:45 although she was reportedly their sister.
06:48 Griselda suggests that Marta died from an accidental drug overdose
06:52 while getting high with Blanco.
06:54 After trying to get rid of the body, Blanco is forced to flee the scene.
06:58 The exact circumstances surrounding Marta's death are unclear,
07:07 although it has been speculated that Blanco was involved.
07:11 Rather than an overdose, the leading theory is that Blanco had Marta killed.
07:15 [speaking Spanish]
07:20 Blanco supposedly owed her $1.8 million,
07:23 and murdering Marta was easier than paying this debt.
07:26 This theory also claims that Marta was tortured before her death
07:30 in hopes that she'd reveal the location of Rafa Salazar.
07:33 [speaking Spanish]
07:43 Number four, Jorge Ayala's phone sex scandal.
07:46 Right.
07:47 Jorge Rivi Ayala Rivera was among the most notable hitmen who worked for Blanco.
07:52 It sounds like something out of a Coen Brothers movie,
07:54 but Ayala robbed a bank for quarters, which led to his arrest.
07:58 We're only allowed to give change to bank customers, sir.
08:00 Give me a roll of quarters, please.
08:02 I need to make a very important call.
08:04 I'm sorry, I can't.
08:06 Next, please.
08:07 You'd think that would be the craziest chapter of his criminal record.
08:10 After cutting a deal with the Florida DA, though,
08:12 the incarcerated Ayala found himself at the center of a phone sex scandal.
08:17 He's their star witness, and they made this woman his handler,
08:20 so he could call her whenever he wanted.
08:21 One thing leads to another, these two start having phone sex,
08:24 she doesn't even realize they're being recorded,
08:27 and it's about to go public.
08:29 With Ayala no longer seen as a credible witness,
08:31 the case that the authorities had been building against Blanco crumbled.
08:35 It's hard to say if Ayala planned all this,
08:37 but the show does take one liberty.
08:39 Ayala didn't have phone sex with a secretary from the state's attorney's office.
08:43 It was multiple secretaries.
08:45 Gotta hand it to Rivi.
08:47 Makes our whole case, then blows it up.
08:49 Number three, how June Hawkins and Blanco met, wrong.
08:53 Detective June Hawkins is depicted as the one primarily responsible
08:57 for bringing Blanco to justice.
08:58 Dramatically, this makes sense,
09:00 as both women were underestimated in male-dominated fields.
09:04 No woman's making deals, let alone shooting anyone.
09:07 You know that where you come from.
09:09 Okay, so maybe she's a witness that can help us find the shooter.
09:13 Look, June, this is Jensen's case.
09:16 Your job is just to gather intelligence and put it in a memo.
09:20 While Hawkins played a role in tracking down Blanco,
09:23 the show overlooks many other key figures.
09:25 There's no mention of Bob Palumbo, who apprehended Blanco.
09:29 When Blanco was caught, Palumbo, not Hawkins,
09:32 sat in the back seat with her.
09:34 Hawkins also didn't visit Blanco in prison to tell her about the deaths of her sons.
09:38 Hawkins only met Blanco once.
09:40 Miss Blanco, I'm Detective Hawkins.
09:43 This is Detective Singleton.
09:45 Let's get you back to Miami, shall we?
09:47 Detective Al Singleton, whom Hawkins would marry,
09:50 had Blanco in his office one day.
09:52 Knowing that Hawkins worked on the case,
09:54 Singleton suggested she drop in.
09:56 Instead of a heated conversation, Hawkins just observed Blanco,
10:00 describing her as, quote, "diminished."
10:03 I haven't thought about you once.
10:07 Number two.
10:08 Darío Sepúlveda saved Blanco's first son.
10:11 Wrong.
10:12 Darío Sepúlveda was Blanco's third husband.
10:15 While we know how their marriage ended,
10:17 there's little information about how the two met.
10:19 It'd be a stretch to say that their first encounter in Griselda
10:23 is anything short of romanticism.
10:31 Sepúlveda is introduced as the henchman of Fernando Bravo,
10:34 Blanco's former brother-in-law.
10:36 Seeking vengeance for his brother's murder,
10:38 Fernando plans to make Blanco suffer before doing her in.
10:42 You guys went to the races, so I didn't have time to say goodbye.
10:48 When Dixon attempts to save his mom,
10:50 Fernando orders Sepúlveda to take him out.
10:53 Unable to kill someone so young,
10:55 Sepúlveda turns his gun to Fernando,
10:57 emerging as Blanco's loyal protector and lover.
11:00 For a period.
11:01 Although it makes for one of the show's most intense moments,
11:04 there's no evidence suggesting it ever happened.
11:07 I don't know why.
11:09 Yes, I do.
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11:35 While we may never know every detail of Griselda Blanco's life,
11:39 it's not a coincidence that all three of her husbands died violent deaths.
11:43 To trace Blanco's transformation into the violent, bloodthirsty woman
11:47 who will earn the name the Black Widow,
11:50 you have to go back over 25 years.
11:53 Blanco met her first husband, Carlos Trujillo, as a young teen,
11:57 getting involved in the drug business together.
11:59 After divorcing, the two got into a business argument
12:02 that resulted in Blanco having Trujillo assassinated.
12:05 Blanco went on to marry cocaine smuggler Alberto Bravo.
12:08 It's unlikely that Bravo told Blanco to sleep with his brother as the show depicts.
12:20 However, the marriage would end with Bravo getting shot in the head
12:23 and Blanco taking credit.
12:25 As for Darío Sepúlveda, the fact that he kidnapped Michael
12:28 gave Blanco more than enough reason to take action.
12:31 They didn't call her Black Widow for nothing.
12:34 What did you think of Griselda?
12:43 Share your thoughts in the comments.
12:45 Do you agree with our picks?
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